Kate Douglass Swims 2:08 200 Breast in Virginia’s Win Over North Carolina
The Virginia swimming and diving teams swept North Carolina in a dual meet on Friday (Jan. 22) at the Koury Natatorium.
Team Scores:
- Women: #2 Virginia 174, #24 North Carolina 121
- Men: #10 Virginia 154, #20 North Carolina 144
- Results
The Women’s Meet
The women’s team won 10 events during the competition with sophomore Maddie Donohoe, sophomore Kate Douglass and freshman Abby Harter each winning a pair of individual races.
The Cavaliers opened the meet with the 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Reilly Tiltmann, freshman Anna Keating, Douglass and freshman Alex Walsh recording a time of 1:38.04 to win by over a second.
In addition to her win with the 200-yard medley relay team, Douglass swam a season-best time of 1:46.51 in the 200-yard freestyle to place first in the event, before following with the top time in the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:08.26.
Donohoe won both distance freestyle events, turning in a time of 4:53.02 in the 500-yard freestyle and a time of 10:21.01 in the 1000-yard freestyle.
Harter dominated the butterfly events, going 54.31 and 1:58.40 in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly, respectively.
Virginia also recorded wins from freshman Alex Walsh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.27, senior Paige Madden in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.13 and sophomore Ella Nelson in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:08.14.
The Men’s Meet
Junior Justin Grender, sophomore Jack Walker and freshman Matt Brownstead aided in the Cavaliers’ win over North Carolina as all three swimmers recorded wins in more than one event.
Grender swept the 100 and 200-yard backstroke with a time of 48.23 and 1:44.91, respectively.
Walker recorded a season-best time of 9:19.63 in the 1000-yard freestyle before swimming a time of 4:27.06 in the 500-yard freestyle.
Brownstead continued to dominate the sprint freestyle events. He won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 19.91 and the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44.47.
Storch won the last individual event of the night, the 400-yard individual medley, by over two seconds. He swam a time of 3:50.97 to help the Cavaliers close the gap on the Tar Heels.
Brownstead, sophomore August Lamb, sophomore Konnar Klinksiek and Grender captured the fastest 200-yard freestyle time of the meet at 1:19.41 to secure the win for the Cavaliers.
“Proud of our teams’ fight tonight on the road against a strong UNC team,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “We knew they would provide a great competition and our team stepped up to the challenge. The ladies stepped on the gas from the first relay and didn’t look back. The men had a battle down to the wire, coming down to the last relay. It’s a position our men have been in before so they know how to close a meet with great IMs and a finishing free relay. We had a lot of great performances overall. Not much time to think about this meet as we turn around and race at NC State tomorrow morning. Looking forward to another great battle!”
North Carolina Release
“I’m extremely proud of our team and the way they competed today,” said head coach of the Tar Heels, Mark Gangloff. “Going into the meet, we talked about UVA being one of the best teams in the country. During our post-meet team meeting, I looked at our team and said to them, ‘If we can look over there and say they are one of the best teams in the country and we almost beat them, then why can’t we say the same about our team?’ Ultimately we can say that we are and that we can compete with almost anyone.”
The Tar Heel women finished the night with multiple podium finishes. Grace Countie placed first in the 100-yard backstroke (53.11), and Heidi Lowe and Brieanna Romney tag-teamed first and second in the 50-yard freestyle (23.33, 23.47). Similarly, Sophie Lindner and Amy Dragelin finished first and second in the 200-yard backstroke (1:56.19, 1:59.41).
Additional second-place finishes for Carolina included Countie in the 100-yard freestyle (50.40), Addison Smith in the 500-yard freestyle (4:54.77) and Ellie Vannote in the 100-yard butterfly (54.92).
UNC’s women finished the night on a high note with a team of Countie, Lindner, Lowe and Romney finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:31.45.
Carolina’s men’s team had an outstanding night, beginning with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay by Tucker Burhans, Valdas Abaliksta, Boyd Poelke and Jack Messenger (1:27.03).
Like the women, the Tar Heel men also had an abundance of top-three finishes, including Abaliksta placing first in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke (53.34, 1:56.86) and Poelke came in first in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly (47.11, 1:46.96).
Tomas Sungaila also performed well, placing second in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle (45.07, 1:38.02). On top of that, Patrick Hussey finished second in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:19.86), Eli Coan came in second in the 50-yard freestyle (20.26), and Dimitrios Dimitriou placed second in the 500-yard freestyle (4:27.18).
“I’m really proud of all of our divers tonight and this whole season,” said head diving coach, Yaidel Gamboa. “We are doing much more with less, and that’s what this unprecedented season is about. We had a lot of strong performances tonight, and the most exciting thing is that we still can and will do better.”
The Tar Heel divers also brought their game Friday night. For the women, Aranza Vazquez placed first (337.50, 390.08) and Emily Grund placed second (307.73, 356.33) in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. In an outstanding feat, Vazquez, a first-year, broke team records in both the 1- and 3-meter events with these performances.
The men also competed phenomenally, sweeping first through fourth in every event. Anton Down-Jenkins (368.70, 414.30) placed first in both events followed by Fabian Stepinski (337.90), Alex Hart (335.03) and Connor Watling (273.98) in the 1-meter. In the 3-meter, Hart placed second (399.75), followed by Stepinski (378.00) and Watling (326.70).
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